Want a glimpse into the mindset?

[Bouncy Ball]

I had to run up to my daughter's school on my lunch hour and drop something off for her and ran into the father of one of her friends. I hadn't seen him in quite a while, but once upon a time, our families were quite friendly and got together a bit.

We were standing outside, chatting, when out of the blue he says, "Hey are you a socialist?" Then he laughed a bit.

Um. That was right after discussing WEEDS in our front lawns. But then, he was always looking for an opportunity to tell people what rush told him that day.

I looked at him and said "Define socialism."

He blinked, started and stopped, started and stopped. "Well, you know, Hitler" was what he finally came up with.

"Hitler was a fascist" I answered. "Can you tell me what socialism is?"

He laughed and said nevermind.

Then he asked where we've been going to church lately (we visited theirs once before being creeped out enough to never return) and I told him a UU church and of course had to explain what that stood for and what it's about.

He was baffled that we let "just anyone" attend. That it's creedless. I said that's one of the biggest things I like about it. Then he says "I guess you don't know about the book of Judges, huh?"

Now I immediately knew where he was going with this, because another bushbot mentioned the book of Judges to me back in November, with this SAME argument.

I said, "Yes, I am familiar with it, actually."

"Then you know it tells Christians to JUDGE others. That it's our DUTY."

"Hmmm," I said, "Funny how it's in the OLD Testament, which has no mention of Christians or Chrisitianity whatsoever. And it wouldn't, since Christ wasn't even BORN YET. And the title 'Judges' comes from the fact that it is written BY Judges, it is not meant as a directive to action. It's being used as a noun, not a verb." *

He just sort of looks at me out of the corner of his eye and says "It's coded. I'm serious. They talked about it in my church and I've got a DVD you can borrow that talks all about it. I'm dead serious."

I assured him I was sure he WAS serious, but that anyone who thinks Judges is some kind of carte blanche directive to Christians to judge others, AGAINST the very teachings of Christ, is "off their nut."

That's when he said "Well, got to run" and we exchanged pleasant goodbyes.

* My thanks to a fellow DUer for the information on Judges she gave me back in November. I ended up reading quite a bit about that book as a result of that first bushbot saying this.

Now, how exactly am I supposed to get through to people like that? Because if anyone would like to provide a blueprint or a step-by-step outline, I'd love it. As a Christian, supposedly I'm able to "take back" things from them, but when they are loonier than my old Aunt Pat, I don't see how that's possible.

[bryant69]

1. Wierd

I've had some discussions on this, but never that banal. Usually it's something along the lines of if someone you are with is tempting you to break the commandments (by, say, being an asshole so that you want to bonk them on the noggin), do you have a requirement to hang around them (so as not to judge them).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Bouncy Ball]

4. Ah.

Well at least that seems to make more sense.

This thing about Judges must be going around the fundie circles. It's so crazy, though. Coded??? I didn't even want to hear anymore crazy shit.

[King Coal]

65. Thanks for telling us that story, Bouncy Ball. It really made me laugh.

Man, I thought we got 'em here. I guess they're all over creation (so to speak).

[Swamp Rat]

2. Frontal lobotomy

I know, I'm a bit cynical these days...:banghead:

[Blue Belle]

10. I don't think you're off the mark on that...

Regardless of being cynical.

[Swamp Rat]

37. Don't you mean off the John 3:16?

:D

I'm going to start giving out free lobotomy cards to these creatures.

[Jacobin]

74. I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy

Sorry.

Had to do it.

;-)

[Swamp Rat]

75. HA! One of Dumbya's favorites!

:D

[Lady Effingbroke]

91. bwahahahahaha!!!

Swamp Rat, you rock! :rofl:

[tk2kewl]

3. and you didn't think the pugs in the senate were counting on the

rapture before they lost their grip on power? whe i was a kid born-agains were looked at as fringe cultish. it constantly amazes me as to how these nuts have taken over.

[Bouncy Ball]

6. Oh I've said the insane are running the asylum.

They've killed Nurse Crachitt and are OFF their meds!

[tk2kewl]

9. i am constantly amazed at how insane these people really are

i don't remember anything seeming remotely this cray when I was a kid. not even when i was in my teens and 20s during the raygun years did it seem as though ther were so many lunatics in the US

[Bouncy Ball]

16. You must be about my age.

I can remember my mom telling a friend of hers "Susan on the next street is born again and goes to that tongues-speaking church down on 9th." Then they looked at each other as if to say "CUCKOO!" And my mother WAS a Christian. But the speaking in tongues was just wacko to her.

[bobbieinok]

34. when I was a kid in the 40s and 50s, they were known as 'holy rollers'

this in Tulsa, where being 'born again' was part of being So Baptist ( and 2/3s to 3/4s of people in OK then were So Baptist)

according to pentecostal/charismatic history, Oral Roberts started the modern charismatic renewal in 1949 when he started his tent ministry in Tulsa.......I was a So Baptist kid then, and no one I knew ever talked about this

many So Baptists even today think speaking in tongues is heresy

there's a lot of theological/doctrinal disagreement between So Baptists and Pentecostals and Mormons and Roman Catholics......but they've ignored these to unite as a RW/republican action group

[XemaSab]

60. A few weeks ago

I was hanging out with my republican Adventist neighbors, and the dude, Jim, works installing sound systems in churches all over Cali.

He said that he went to an Assemblies of God youth conference up in Northern Cali and he'd never been so scared in his life.

There were hundreds of young folks in this room, and a speaker got up and started speaking and he was whipping the kids into a frenzy. Jim said he wasn't talking about Jesus, and he said "the father," but as Jim put it, he could be referring to someone other than God. Everyone was speaking in tongues and flipping out and Jim felt a really evil presence and started praying, asking God if this was okay and calling on the Holy Spirit to come to that place.

He said that the preacher stopped in the middle of what he was saying while Jim was praying and said "there's someone here who is opposing what we're trying to do and I'm done." Then the speaker just left the stage and Jim felt the evil presence dissipate.

Jim's a hardcore fundy, but I was interested to see that he thought these people were freaks.

[StatGirl]

76. Interesting in a creepy way . . .

I sometimes say of these rabid people that they worship Satan and call him Jesus. The "Jesus" that's apparently described at the end of the "Left Behind" books (haven't read them, have only seen the description) sounds a lot like a demon to me.

[XemaSab]

80. They're definitely

not in line with MY bible....

[FreedomAngel82]

84. Nor mine

Maybe we have different one's?

[XemaSab]

98. It really wouldn't surprise me

if they have a Bible with Rambo Jesus, who goes around destroying people in order to save them.

[mitchum]

58. Iwas a kid and teen in the 60s and 70s deep south, and even there...

these people were considered tt be religous nuts. It still amazes me that they are now mainstream.

[tk2kewl]

63. how the fuck did this happen?

i don't get it at all? we have become a nation of nuts, a country of kooks, a republic of retards, a land of loonies.

[spooked911]

69. Good question. I'm sure it's complicated-- perhaps it is a

natural reaction to scientific progress?

[mitchum]

79. Probably many reasons:

Pandering by the GOP. Some reason for the poor and working class to vote against their material interests.
The dumbing down of our society and the rise of irrationality.
Many people frightened, and possibly "damaged", by the changing gender, economic, lifestyle possibilities that arose in the 50s, 60s, 70s

It is personally distressing to me since I was born into a culture where things were demonstrably getting better. The past twenty or so years have been a giant leap backward. i don't long for a return to my youth, but I once again want a world where such a youth was possible.

[Nay]

73. Me, too--kid and teen in the late 50s thru 1970, and these

people were considered to be totally messed up and weird. It also amazes me that they now are mainstream as well. It's going to be a long slog, folks, cuz these people don't let go of their fantasies of revenge and hate.

[mitchum]

78. I honestly never thought that the rapture nonsense would make it out...

of those small, (rightly) marginalised fundamentalist churches. Even the freakin' Baptists considered them to be nuts. Now they have effectively taken over the SBC and, of course, the bulk of the megachurches are decidedly fundy.

[spooked911]

5. Sounds like you handled it quite well. He sounds like a total creep.

[Bouncy Ball]

7. I avoid him as much as possible.

Saw him in the grocery store this past weekend, but managed to get ou of there before he saw me. He's the type that would talk your arm off if you let him.

[spooked911]

15. If his daughter has been at your house, one hopes he wasn't probing her

on what sort of illicit/socialistic things you had in your home.

[Bouncy Ball]

17. We've had their daughter over a lot, actually.

We found out she's not allowed to say the word "gay" (it's a bad word, don'tcha know) and she can't watch any of the Harry Potter movies, but it seems like being around us had a calming effect on her. Her family is very unstable.

[spooked911]

70. It all fits, doesn't it. Well I'm glad you can give her a friendly place,

just hope the dad doesn't get too nosy.

[Vincardog]

8. Just ask them to document Any place where JESUS said anything

that supports their position. They can't and are too lazy to try anyway. They like to lie and let us do all the work of proving their lie to them. Then they want to change the subject to their next lie or pretend that that is not what they meant in the first place. Do not let their first lie by. Ask them to prove it. The will mutter to themselves and go away.

[Bouncy Ball]

11. I guess my point was, there's no getting through to

a certain segment of the bushbot population.

We'd be better off focusing on those who don't pass around DVDs with all kinds of crazy, wild-eyed shit. Those who don't just lap up any old insane thing they hear from their church.

[Jo March]

21. Jesus specifically said this about judgement

MATTHEW 7:1-5:

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye."

They don't like that very much so they try and pervert Judges.

Here's another one they don't like:

According to the Gospel of John, the Pharisees, in an attempt to discredit Jesus, brought a woman charged with adultery before him. Then they reminded Jesus that adultery was punishable by stoning under Mosaic law and challenged him to judge the woman so that they might then accuse him of disobeying the law. Jesus thought for a moment and then replied, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.” The people crowded around him were so touched by their own consciences that they departed. When Jesus found himself alone with the woman, he asked her who were her accusers. She replied, “No man, lord.” Jesus then said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.”

[Just Me]

12. You underestimate your own power of influence, my dear!!!

You were the teacher, he the student. Even if he chooses to ignore the bits of wisdom you handed him,...he can't avoid his human impulse to "wonder". *LOL*

I recently (yesterday) had a similar experience with a neighbor. I just know he made some assumptions about me 'cause he's been trying to set me up with his son *LOL*. When he jokingly asked me if I was a "liberal" and found out that, in fact, I am one of "those",...he looked like he was in complete shock. Nevertheless, he waived at me as we passed eachother today. So, he must not really believe that those "liberals" are all bad, after all.

[blueheeler]

13. That is the major problem these people pose!!

They have no idea what they are talking about!! HITLER???? This is a scary story and I feel for you, I would have gone ballistic at the "judgment" he provided and then tried to back it up with the Bible.

[Jo March]

14. "You know - Hitler" - WHAT??

Hitler was most certainly NOT a socialist. For the love of Pete and all his minions, where do these folks get their information?

Oh, that's right. Rush.

Well, BRAVO to you for holding your ground. I'll have to remember to make them define socialism when they come after me - which they do.

Bravo, BB!

:yourock: :applause:

[spooked911]

19. In practice he wasn't a socialist though Nazi is short for

National Socialists. So maybe that's where the guy got that idea-- or he just thought Hitler and Socialists are both evil.

[Bouncy Ball]

22. I think it was the latter.

You don't know how hard it was to keep from saying "Hitler was a fascist. Like your man Littledick Cuckoo Bananas."

[Jo March]

26. Yes, I do forget that they were the National Socialists

But their socialism wasn't exactly socialism in any use of the word.

[Bouncy Ball]

28. Right, it was just how it was translated.

It had nothing to do with actual socialism.

But I don't even think this guy would know what "Nazi" was short FOR, anyway.

[bobbieinok]

39. Hitler was checking out diff political groups in Munich for the army

he found this group, which was pretty weak, and decided he could take it over

some of the people who started the group had some socialist ideas, but Hitler got rid of them after he came to power in Jan 1933 (they were elimiated=killed in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934)

calling Hitler and the Nazis 'socialist' is one of the more blatant examples of the very poor historical knowledge that many Americans have

[NoPasaran]

53. Of course one of the lunatics involved in the "nuclear option"

Thinks we've been living under socialism in this country since 1937. I guess that explains the red stars I see everywhere.

[Bouncy Ball]

54. Pffffttt!

:spray:

[Stirk]

42. And the Soviets had a republic.

I'm sure you're right when you say that's his reasoning. I've heard others claim that Hitler was a socialist, and they always use the same argument: it's in the name. It's not even worth arguing against. They're just regurgitating some preposterously transparent propaganda, as it was regurgitated to them.

[AllegroRondo]

50. Whats in a name?

East Germany was officially the "Democratic Republic of Germany", even though the government was communist. What they name themselves is really irrelevant.

[SmokingJacket]

77. He has no idea what "Nazi" is short for, I guarantee --

he got the talking point straight from Limbaugh, and it makes him feel SO smart, he doesn't feel the need to look anything up.

[Bouncy Ball]

20. I couldn't believe he didn't even know what it was.

But it confirmed a long-held suspicion of mine that they just hear a word from the right wingnut pundit's mouth and think "BAD." So they just repeat that, not even knowing what it means.

I wish I had mentioned to him how many of our government programs are socialist in nature. I was a bit thrown by the sudden veering into religion.

[Cleita]

18. You can't get through to True Believers.

They will implode on their own when they become disenchanted. They will become disenchanted because the crooks who are telling them how to think will go to go too far one of these days. Now that they hold so much power in their hands, it won't be enough, and they are going to go too far. I hope it's sooner rather than later. I want to watch the fireworks.

:popcorn:

[jojo54]

23. Thanks for making that part clear to me

Up until someone posted the thread for the pro-belief site, I really didn't know which way I swung on the religious vines. The site determined that I am UU also and I'm looking into a congregation now.

You handled that conversation well Bouncy. I just can't believe that any god would tell anyone to JUDGE and it's their DUTY to judge everyone else. What a creep.

[Bouncy Ball]

25. But it's CODED, don'tcha know? I've got a DVD I can show ya

that PROVES IT!!!!

:crazy:

[BronxBoy]

52. I've read a few of your threads....

where you provide details of some of your interesting encounters with these people. I've always wondered how you are always able to suppress posing the following question to these people:

Are you out of your fucking mind?

You've got the patience of Job

[Bouncy Ball]

56. Um, well, back in the day

I did say that a few times. As in, oh 2003 or so. Yeah. It gets you exactly nowhere. The person just shuts down, as well they should. I would, if anyone said that to me.

So I just adopted a different mindset. When I see one of these people, I prepare for the worst, but know that we COULD just have a very innocent conversation about the weather, you never know with them.

Before the election, the stress of it was getting to me and I stopped talking to them altogether. Now I'm more like "what the fuck ever" and I'm morbidly fascinated by the interior thought processes behind this nuttiness.

[BronxBoy]

67. Well God Bless You...

I've gotten a little better since I moved to GA but I got to tell you, I've had some conversations with some folks down here that started innocently enough but then one of these people would just say something just jaw droppingly stupid and I would be absolutely amazed.

I've learned to repress some of my Bronxian instincts. I don't just dismiss them out of hand. My brain just locks them out and I un-hun them until they leave. Guess it's a learning procee hun?



:dunce:

[Bouncy Ball]

68. Oooo you moved to Georgia from the Bronx???

Now that's far more of a culture shock. I've been around these people all my life, they just didn't used to be in charge of the government, so in one sense, you get acclimated to it.

But wow. God bless YOU. And good luck to ya! :toast:

[Bill McBlueState]

24. That's a great view of the mindset

It's totally in line with their critical thinking skills that "This book is called Judges" gets translated into "This book is all about passing judgment on people I don't like." I assure you your buddy has never read the book of Judges, except for a few verses that were printed on the handout he got at church.

[Bouncy Ball]

27. Oh I bet not either.

And after what happened in November, I came home and busted out my NIV Study Bible and read the whole introduction to Judges, looked at the maps, etc etc, then read big chunks of it JUST to make sure. Then there was my DU friend who pointed out a few salient things to me.

I'd bet my left arm I've read more of Judges than he has.

P.S. It's not that interesting, either.

[Virginian]

29. Great comebacks Bouncy. You are my hero.

I wish I could think fast on my feet like that. I would welcome confrontation from the right if I could.

I confronted a wingnut once. I didn't mean to, it was a knee jerk reaction. I was in the Jewelry Dept of a store picking up my wedding ring when I heard a man (there with his wife) say, "If women were meant to have pierced ears, God would have made them that way."
My mouth started talking before my brain could stop it. I said, "And if men were meant to be circumsized, God would have made them that way."
I wanted to kick myself at the time, I got out of there as fast as I could with no further conversation, but now I'm glad I said it.

That time I didn't think, I just spoke. I wish I could think and speak like you did.

[Bouncy Ball]

31. AH!!! THAT'S GREAT!!!

What a weird thing for him to say.

To be fair, I used to be horrible at stuff like that. I would blank out, or I'd have five million things to say and they'd come out all convoluted and not how I meant them. But believe it or not, it's DU that has helped that. Being here and reading all these things and talking to other Democrats in real life has helped tremendously. Plus I had the advantage of already haven been sideswiped by the weird Judges thing. The first time I heard it, I was just sort of gobsmacked, but this time I was prepared.

Practice, it gets easier. And I LOVE what you said, btw.

[Just Me]

35. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

:rofl:

Gee, I think you done good!!!!

[hippiegranny]

30. "Now, how exactly am I supposed to get through to

people like that?"

Well, you probably will never "get through" to someone like that, but I think you gave the best possible responses for the situation. In fact, you kept your head and your cool quite well, I'd say!

[Bouncy Ball]

32. Last fall I used to get rather bent out of joint.

Nowdays I don't know. I just figure why get worked up? They're going to implode all on their own at this rate.

[dbonds]

33. Here is a link to Judges

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/kjv/jdg001.htm


btw http://www.sacred-texts.com is a great site for ALL text remotely spiritual.


Back to how to deal with them, they are told what to think, and that to even let a thought of doubt cross their mind is a sin. The only thing you can do to get things across to them is to create paradoxes from their beliefs. These won't work immediately but will take time to sink in.

[Bouncy Ball]

36. I've heard someone else say that, too and I think that's correct.

Their entire belief system is rather tenuous and doubt of ANY kind is extremely dangerous. Questions can lead to doubt and doubt can lead to the whole house of cards falling down, so questions and questioning = bad.

Thanks for the link, I'll check that out!

:toast:

[Lerkfish]

38. whoa, how woefully misinformed. The book of Judges is

a chronicle of the first judges of Isreal, its a historical text. Isreal had judges instead of Kings, for a very long time after their escape from Egypt.

Amazing that he has been told Judges means we should judge people.

If you run up against him again, just mention Matthew 7:1.
"Judge not that ye be not judged"

your encounter is confirmation of the fact that fundies aren't even interested in the teachings of Christ at all.

[Bouncy Ball]

40. Now that I think about it, I should have taken him up on the DVD

offer and watched it, just to see how this is being spun. To say Christians are ordered to judge by a book in the Old Testament directly violates Jesus' teachings. It's :crazy:.

[Lerkfish]

43. well, its even MORE crazy because Judges is NOT a book of law,

Leviticus is. I don't know if he was thinking of leviticus and said the wrong book, or what.
leviticus is the collection of "thou shalts" to excruciating detail.
Judges, however, is a very interesting history of the tribes of Isreal, right after their delivery from Egypt. there are no admonitions to current believers in it, that I can recall, except in the context of particular events....for example, during one raid, Achan hid some gold and silver that was supposed to be destroyed, and came to some dire consequences.

again, this is so typical. If they were to get any instruction from the old testament, how about Job, Proverbs, Psalms, or any of a handful of others that actually contain inspiration or wisdom that COULD apply to today.
But NOOOOOO, they have to fixate (incompetently as it turns out) on the anachronistic judgements of others. In fact, the ONLY people allowed to make such judgements were prophets or priests anyhow.

[Bouncy Ball]

45. No, he meant Judges.

Like I said, he's the second one to say this to me.

You reminded me, though. As a kid, I read Proverbs a lot. I remember thinking "I can NEVER live up to all this!" LOL! But I liked it and I liked Psalms quite a bit. Very comforting stuff in that.

[Raksha]

96. Right you are, Lerkfish, it's a historical text.

"Judges" was the term used for elders or tribal leaders in the period before the kings. It was during the pre-patriarchal period too, so the judges could be male or female.

This person who thinks it refers to passing judgment on people is a complete loon!

[Lerkfish]

97. but it appears he's intentionally misled by his religious leaders..

if they produced a DVD with that misinformation, then for some reason they are intentionally deceiving their own flock. I have trouble believing that even the most incompetent minister would have no understanding of the book of Judges and what it really contains.

Therefore, I can only conclude that they COUNT ON their flock being too uninquisitive to crack open the bible on their own.

Think about that for a moment -- they are SO confident their flock will read ONLY the passages they say, and read them HOW they say, they can produce a DVD with false information.....This is so counter to the "every word in the bible is true" claims of fundies that I don't know what to say.

[seabeyond]

41. bet he doesnt stop to chat with you about weed in the front

lawn again, lol lol.

ah well, you gave it to him the best, made him pause, a number of times. will probably think back to this conversation a number of times

[Bouncy Ball]

44. He's such a lost cause.

Seriously. I've known him for three years now and he just gets nuttier every time I talk to him.

I'm thinking at this rate, in six months, he'll be drooling and glancing fearfully up at the sky a lot and babbling about demons eating his toes.

[Greenbeard]

46. The sermon on the mount

Whenever confronted with these types of people I refer them to the sermon on the mount and give my best synopsis of the the overall message. If they make me really angry I will ask them why they feel they need to deny the teachings of Jesus to prove their point and how sad it makes me for the future of christianity.

I do all this in the nicest way possible.

Most of the time the converstations come to a coridal but abrupt end.

A few times the person I have spoken with has come to me months later to say that they had been reflecting upon what I said and how grateful they were we had our conversation.

The other night I had a going-away party for a friend of mine. We have had many religous conversations in the past and often times we just have to agree to disagree. He was taking the classic stand against homosexuals and I mentioned how I had never seen a passage in the bible that conforms to his viewpoint. He asked if I had a bible and I went to go find it. He proceeded to look for a few minutes and couldn't find anything. I said let me see that book for a minute. "Whenever I am looking for spiritual guidance I always turn to this part". I then proceeded to read to him the whole sermon on the mount. I'm not sure that changed his mind but it was a start. That much was obvious.

This was at about 3:00 am after a night of drinking beer. Not your usual party game but these are funny times.

[geniph]

47. Coded? CODED? Is he off his meds?

Is that whole congregation off their antipsychotics, or what? CODED?

The proper response to that (after picking your jaw up off the floor, of course) is to pleasantly respond: "Oh, then you don't believe the Bible is the literal word of God?"

Ever see Mars Attacks? Stand well back after you say that, because you don't want to get the green goo on your shirt.

[Fire Walk With Me]

48. "Can you tell me what socialism is?" --Excellent! Derailed his hate train

It's awful when an actual discussion with facts and the power of discrimination gets in the way of a dogma-spouting steamroller. Way to go.

[jayfish]

49. BB, I Commend You...

on your patients. I wouldn't have made it past "where we've been going to church lately". Well done.


Jay

[Lannes]

51. Could this be next?

[jayfish]

71. I Thought...

Willie Nelson was a Liberal? :crazy:

Jay

[tblue37]

55. Now, who was it that said,

Judge not that ye be not judged"?

Um, let me see now, it's right on the tip of my typing fingers--it was, oh yeah! Jesus!

[Bouncy Ball]

57. Oh THAT guy?

They only like him crucified and dead, apparently. The living Jesus SAYS things that don't exactly jive with their opinions and actions, so we can't be qouting the JC man, don'tcha know.

[yella_dawg]

59. How can the bible be the literal word of God.

And be encoded too? I mean, aren't those sort of oposite concepts? Like it's really the literal pig-latin of God?

Us Pagans got it a lot easier.

[Bouncy Ball]

61. Ok here's the deal.

It's the LITERAL word of God when it talks about Adam and Eve, how we should punish all homosessuals, and Revelations.

It's CODED when it's things in the Old Testament that tell us to harshly judge others.

The rest of it, all of that Jesus stuff is important, buuuut we're not gonna talk about it, 'k?

See? Does that make more sense? :crazy:

There, there, have a glass of Crazy Juice and you'll feel much better. Just relaaaaax.......

[yella_dawg]

66. I realize I'm stating the obvious...

But I guess the "literal word of God" is whatever the fundie wants it to be at the moment.


Logic and reason are just so restrictive!

[jokerman93]

62. Where does one even begin?

Where does one even begin? It sometimes seems impossible to find even a foothold when discussing issues with these scary neo-christers. The more they reveal about their mindset the more mind-boggling it is for the rest of us. Really.

What recourse to reason do you have when the entire world view they've bought into hangs on a teetering scaffold of dreamlike fantasy and blank ignorance?

I fear we're involved in an egregious social phenomenon that isn't likely to end well.

[Bouncy Ball]

64. You put that very well, especially your last line.

[KelleyKramer]

72. The school you were in is Socialist institution!

'Define Socialism' is the best response you gave him. It would have been more shocking if he had a clue what it meant.

Since this conversation took place at the school I would have made sure to remind him you were both standing inside a socialist institution.

When he said goodbye I would have said 'bye, and enjoy those socialist projects to get you home.. you know, the roads and bridges you are about to drive your car on'

What a total idiot.

[Vektor]

81. I'm surprised that you were able to remain that patient with him.

I seriously would have shit my pants if someone that wack-a-doo came up to me in public spouting that craziness.

[Bouncy Ball]

85. I'm very used to them.

Unfortunately.

[Vektor]

88. Egads, you poor thing!

There are a lot of warped fundies in my area too, but I usually manage to avoid them. You handled the situation very well.

[Virginian]

89. I think Bouncy lives in Texas.

I think I remember her mentioning that a while back.
She has a whole great big red state full of wingers.

[Vektor]

92. Oh...

yeah, that's a sea of red alright. I live in a blue state, but the reddest, most back-ass-wards county!

Horrible.
:scared:

Poor Bouncy!

[kiki]

82. Let me get this straight...

The idea that the Bible tells us to judge people is based entirely on the fact that this one book is called "Judges"? Nothing in the content, just the title?

Oh, I forgot; it's "coded".

I seem to recall that hippy in the sandals - I forget His name - saying "judge not". Perhaps that's not coded enough for them.

[Sparkly]

83. Go, Bouncy!!

:yourock:

[Cash]

86. Actually...

"And the title 'Judges' comes from the fact that it is written BY Judges,"

It was written by Joshua about the conquest of the land of Canaan by the Israelites and how G-d first appointed judges to rule the people before they stated they wanted to have a king.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.............

[Darranar]

87. The Hebrew word is "shoftim," and in context it really...

does not mean judges at all, rather leaders.

[Virginian]

90. I nominate Bouncy Ball for the DU elite.

She's got gumption and she's getting the message out.

[Swamp Rat]

93. Damn straight!

:kick:

[NuttyFluffers]

94. whenever i think of garden weeds i think socialists...

:rofl:

oh lawdy, Aunt Pat fell off her rocker! :rofl: there's an easy way to take care of people loonier than old Aunt Pat -- give them several hundred house cats. then they'll never leave the house! :D

whoohoo ha ha ha ha, damn, sometimes i wish i'd get a few of these brushes with madness. all we get here is just regular ol' crazies and crackheads. all in all, they are less harmless than these christianists, but they don't actually come up to you and say this stuff, the most whacked out shit of whacked out shit, in full seriousness. heh, i feel an itch for a road trip coming on...

[DoYouEverWonder]

95. When folks like this start quoting the OT

I look at them funny and say "I didn't know you were Jewish?"

Of course they usually don't get the joke but the OT is the book of the Jews. Jesus said that he was the fulfillment of the OT and therefore the old rules no longer applied. Besides since I consider myself a christian I try to stick with the teachings of Jesus, especially since Jesus taught that no one can come to the father except through him, that includes Leviticus, Issac, Paul, Popa Ratzy or anyone else for that matter.


Maybe your friend could use one of my little holy cards?



?mnb